Primordial Inflation Polarization Explorer
NASA’s Primordial Inflation Polarization Explorer, or PIPER, mission arrived in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, late last week and is gearing up for launch. The
balloon-borne observatory will look out in all directions, receiving light that is left over from the heat of the gigantic explosion that was the Big Bang.
Pictured here is the PIPER payload, stripped down for shipping. It will go up to 120,000 feet on a gigantic balloon that would fill a professional sports
stadium when fully inflated. The silvery cylinder in the middle is the dewar – the science name for vacuum wall thermos bottle. This one holds 5,000 liters,
which equals approximately 20,000 cups of coffee. The telescope and camera will go inside the dewar and operate at 1.6 degrees Kelvin, cooled by 3,000 liters
of liquid helium, the coldest liquid in the universe. The aluminum frame around it holds the dewar and other electronics up when it hangs from the balloon.
If scientists prove – or even disprove – the cosmological theory of accelerated, exponential expansion of space in the early universe with PIPER, it will be
a milestone achievement for three pioneering NASA-developed technologies.
Credit: Paul Mirel
http://www.nasa.gov/...sa-team-set-to-fly-balloon-mission-seeking-evidence-of-cosmological-inflation
http://www.nasa.gov/...piper-balloon-observatory-to-showcase-pioneering-nasa-developed-technologies
